Peripheral Nerve Conduction and Anthropometric Characteristics in Elite American Football Players: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background/Objectives: American football exposes athletes to repeated collisions and intense physical loading. This exploratory study compared anthropometric characteristics and peripheral nerve conduction parameters between elite American football players and healthy sedentary men. Methods: Thirty-six elite male players and 39 sedentary male controls underwent anthropometric assessment and motor and sensory nerve conduction studies (NCSs) of the upper and lower extremities. Groups were compared with Welch’s t-test, and effect sizes (Hedges’ g) were reported with 95% confidence intervals. The false discovery rate (FDR) was controlled across all 110 NCS parameters, which were also analysed in linear models adjusted for age, for age, height and body mass index, and for age and local limb circumference. Results: Players had larger shoulder, upper-arm and forearm circumferences, whereas height and limb segment lengths were similar. After age adjustment and FDR control, players had longer accessory nerve motor latencies on both sides (right: 3.70 ± 0.86 vs. 2.74 ± 0.85 ms; left: 3.63 ± 0.94 vs. 2.69 ± 0.75 ms; both q < 0.001), a shorter left musculocutaneous motor latency and a faster left sural sensory conduction velocity. Median, ulnar, sural and tibial response amplitudes were lower in players, but these differences were attenuated after adjustment for age. Conclusions: Elite American football players differ from sedentary controls in a small number of nerve conduction parameters, most consistently in accessory nerve motor latency. Because the controls were sedentary and the design was cross-sectional, these differences cannot be attributed specifically to American football rather than to intensive athletic training in general. They should be regarded as hypothesis-generating findings that require independent replication.